During February and March, Lufthansa is taking delivery of three Boeing 747-8Is, one Airbus A380, one A330-300 ‒ the last of 19 on...

Lufthansa has taken delivery of its 10th Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, the aircraft landing at Frankfurt Airport on February 7 following its delivery flight from Boeing’s widebody assembly facility at Everett, Washington.

The airline’s 10th Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental ‒ which is registered D-ABYL ‒ is one of seven new airliners that will be joining Lufthansa Group’s German-based carriers in February and March.

Lufthansa’s 10th Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, registered D-ABYL, lands at Frankfurt Airport on February 7, 2014, following its delivery flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington

During February and March, Lufthansa is taking delivery of three Boeing 747-8Is, one Airbus A380, one A330-300 ‒ the last of 19 on order ‒ and two A320s.

In addition, Germanwings will receive a new Airbus A319 ‒ again, the last of the type on order for Lufthansa’s German carriers ‒ and Lufthansa Cargo will take delivery of a Boeing 777F freighter.

Lufthansa has a total of 19 Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental widebodies on order. It operates the type to several North American destinations

Overall, Lufthansa Group expects to receive 23 new commercial aircraft this year. By the end of March, Lufthansa will have received 12 of 19 Boeing 747-8Is it has on firm order.

Following final fitting-out at Lufthansa Technik in Frankfurt and operational approval, the newly delivered Boeing 747-8I D-ABYL is expected to begin scheduled passenger flights by the end of February.

It will replace an older Boeing 747-400, which will then be taken out of service temporarily for installation of a new two-class interior containing only Business Class and Economy Class seats. The new Boeing aircraft is around 30 per cent quieter than the older model.

“With these new, state-of-the-art aircraft, we are investing in both passenger comfort for customers and the ecological sustainability of flight operations,” says Christoph Franz, Lufthansa Group’s CEO and chairman of its executive board.

Lufthansa is one of only a handful of airlines to order the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, the passenger version of the Boeing 747-8, by 2014. With its fuselage stretched by approximately 30 feet compared with earlier 747 versions, the 747-8 is the longest airliner ever to enter commercial service. As of 2014, the short-upper deck freighter had proved a better seller than the 747-8I

This year’s deliveries are part of a comprehensive fleet modernization program underway at Lufthansa Group’s airlines. A total of 261 new aircraft will be delivered by 2025, at a list price of €32 billion ($43.66 billion).

According to Lufthansa Group, this highlights the group’s ability to invest continuously in the latest airliners which offer lower operating costs complemented by improved environmental performance and greatly reduced noise emissions.